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A cross-party group of UK MPs is backing a campaign to end ‘frozen pensions.’

They say that frozen pensions result in half a million expats receiving lower state pensions.

It is estimated some pensioners are receiving up to £4,000 a year less than their peers with similar savings but who happen to reside in different countries.

Many countries, such as those in the European Economic Area (EEA), and the U.S. reciprocal agreements with the UK. These ensure British expats receive the same income from their state pension as they would in the UK.

However, others such as Canada, Australia and New Zealand, do not have this provision. This means expats’ pensions can remain forever linked to the interest rate at the time they moved overseas.

A spokesperson for the End Frozen Pensions campaign said: “By building a parliamentary alliance we will stop this Government trick and end the frozen pension policy.”

The move to change the law in favour of equality for expatriate state pensions is scheduled for spring 2019.

Sir Roger Gale, Conservative MP for North Thanet in Kent says: “There is a group of people who have served this country and paid their dues throughout their working lives who now find that their pensions are frozen.

“It leads to the anomaly where a pensioner living on one side of Niagara Falls has a frozen pension, while a pensioner living a few hundred yards away on the other side in the U.S. has an uprated pension, annually. It is nonsense and iniquitous.”

Mr Gale adds: “We are trying to achieve an understanding that we will uprate existing pensions at today's rate from now on. It is not going to satisfy all the pensioners who understandably feel aggrieved, but we can establish the principle so over time we truly get this right.”

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